3.2 Core Themes
3.2.2 Personal Positive Impressions about Menzi High School: educators as transformative
My research journal records that I visited Menzi High School on Friday 27th May 2011. Since I did not know the directions to the school, I asked my neighbour, who is a Head of Department at KwaMgaga High School, which is approximately 1.5/2 km away from Menzi, to help me.
We left from KwaMashu township at approximately six a.m. (6h00) to Durban where we joined other staff of KwaMgaga. As I drove my white Toyota Hilux van, they led the way in a white Golf car. We arrived at the gate of Menzi High School at about 6h45. Mr Mshololo stood with deputy principal, Mr Tenza, monitoring late comers. He was carrying something like a stick in his hand most probably as a visual deterrent to late comers. He was a highly sociable man with an immense sense of humour. In front of us there was an inscription of the school motto written along the wall: ‘DOERS’, which translates, in this instance, to ‘people who make things happen against all odds’. But by all appearances Menzi is an ordinary school that has achieved extraordinary things, and the teachers of Menzi High School are ordinary people that accomplish extraordinary results (Kouzes and Posner, 1996; Quinn, 2000; Meyer, 2004;
Sharma, 2010).
Peter Drucker (1955/2001; 61) claimed that “the spirit of the organization makes common people do uncommon things”. Morris (1883/1966), assigned a high value to craft work as being creative, varied, and useful, and in that sense Mshololo was a craft person whose effective principalship was grounded in craftsmanship. The principal of Menzi was an artist, a designer, and a social architect who, according to the grapevine, was excellent at recognizing and acknowledging others. For instance, the principal took the entire teaching staff and non- teaching staff to the International Convention Centre (ICC) for a celebration of twenty years of excellence on 2nd February 2015, but shortly thereafter he met his untimely death due to a heart attack on 6th February 2015.
Thereafter, the principal led me to his ‘office’. Surprisingly he had no formal office, but shares the same space with the administrative clerk who was busy printing a document. He then introduced me to the academic teaching staff, who were sitting in a small cramped room, which was the deputy principal’s office. This personal encounter with the cramped working conditions made a strong case for the need for an administrative block. Thereafter, the deputy principal accompanied me to view the school premises as she took some photographs. Later, I came across a grade 11learner cleaning the premises and pushing green wheeled dirt bins.
When I asked them why they do not play truant and how they can work without supervision.
They told me that they had learnt to bear the burden of responsibility in grade 8.
Later on, the siren rang and we convened at the assembly point. Mr Mkhize, who is the choir master, led choruses one after another as the whole school caught fire. Suddenly, I noticed two little grade 8 learners who were dancing exquisitely well. Thereafter, Mr Shange came to the podium and delivered a service. He read from the Bible about the ant and the lazy man; the moral being ‘although I may look insignificant in the eyes of public, but in the eyes of the Lord I am truly significant as He appreciates my accomplishments’.
Eventually, the principal ascended the podium, carrying the merit award certificate for being the number one school in the Umlazi District in 2010. Before he spoke, there was absolute order, discipline and respectful silence as though one could hear a pin drop. He reminded teachers and learners that 2010 was part of history and that the academic year should end as it began. I was a bit puzzled by this remark but then I remembered Stephen Covey’s Habits of Highly Effective Leaders- ‘begin with the end in mind’. Towards the end, he introduced me as the circuit manager of Babanango Ward, in Dundee. He reminded learners that I was the father of Blessing ‘Zakwe’, the hip-hop national celebrity who had received many South African music awards, for example, ‘Best Rapper’ in 2012; ‘Gold Award’ for selling approximately 20.000 copies of his hip-hop album; the ‘Metro Award’ for best rapper in 2013; another ‘Gold Award’ for selling most hip-hop copies in 2014, and the ‘South African Traditional Music Award in 2015. The students did not display much response to my being a circuit manager, but when they heard that I was the father of Blessing Zakwe, there was prolonged applause. The principal invited me to help them with fundraising for their Matric Dance in 2014. Action research is about touching lives of ordinary people, therefore, I then experienced a felt-need to make a special contribution to Menzi High School. I gave those two little grade 8 girl learners who had danced so well at the assembly, R100 each. At the principal’s office I was later told that one of them had cried when she was given her R100 because of grinding poverty at home.
I then made a pledge to the principal to donate a sum of R1000 a month from June 2011 to May 2015.
The Great Game of Life
“The search for the best is only the beginning. We need to search for a meaning and a
purpose. Firstly, we need to understand where we are heading. That is to say, a ‘telos’
a dream of what might be. Friedrich Nietzsche said that ‘those who have a Why can endure any How’.
Secondly, there is the paradoxical doctrine of ‘Enough’. You cannot move on to a different track unless you realize that you have gone far enough on the present one.
Thirdly, we all need a taste of the sublime, to lift our hearts, to give us a hint of something bigger than ourselves and of the infinite possibilities of life.
Fourthly, and lastly, there is the challenge of immortality. No, we can’t live forever, at least in this world, and we can’t take anything with us, but we can leave a bit of ourselves behind, as proof that we made a difference, to someone. In other words, I am trying to improve a little bit.
It is our job to excel in the game of life with whatever skill or expertise we have.
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s articulation of success states: ‘…to find the best in others;
and to leave the world a bit better…’” (Handy, 1997:108–129).
The search for excellence, the acceleration of best practices, the taste of the sublime, and immortality are embedded in the eternal quest for excellence. Aristotle (384-322 BC) expressed this in the concept of Eudomonia, which means ‘excellence’ or ‘virtue’.
This thesis is about educators as transformative intellectuals; people who want to feel that they have been ‘artists’ in their own way in the great game of life. Transformative educators are people who are capable of achieving extraordinary things. They strive to generate and sustain achievements that will stand the test of time. Thus, they will achieve a sort of iImmortality – by building a legacy. In this respect, transformative educators, as intellectuals, leave some imprint; an indelible mark or footprint in the sands of time. This is their special gift to humanity.
The importance of managements’ expectations
With reference to the ‘Pygmalion Effect’ in Management and in the Classroom, Eliza Doolittle in Bernard Shaw’s famous play Pygmalion explains:
You see, really and truly, apart from the things anyone can pick up … the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she’s treated. I shall always be a flower girl to Professor Higgins, because he always treats me like a flower girl, and always will, but I know I can be a lady to you, because you always treat me as a lady, and always will. (Pygmalion. Shaw G.B 1916, Act 111: Sc. 6)
Some managers always treat their subordinates in a way that facilitates superior performance.
But far too many managers are like Professor Higgins. Unthinkingly, they treat their
subordinates in a way that leads to lower performance than what these individuals are capable of achieving. It is as though there were a law that causes a subordinate’s performance to rise or to fall to meet the manager’s expectations.